Key Lime Kirby

Key Lime Kirby is the Key Lime Festival mascot with a burning passion for properly prepared Key Lime Pies. He's loveable, hugable, tasty and delightful, just don't try to use anything but real Key Limes in his presence, or you might end up on the receiving end of a profanity-laced pie rant.

Key Lime Kirby is the creation of comic illustrator Dan Schwab (http://www.keytoons.com/) Dan created Kirby for David L. Sloan's Key Lime Pie Cookbook, and before long, Kirby started taking on a life of his own, releasing a catchy hit tune about himself and a youtube video to go along with it. (for people not offended by 4 letter words starting with 'F' only)

"He's a bit like The Kool-Aid Man on acid," says Sloan. "He curses when he's singing, but apart from that he's a joy to be around, and he's great with kids."

But for Kirby, print, audio and video were simply not enough, and soon he rose from a scrap pile of foam, glue and fabric clippings to become a real live mascot, showing up at Key Lime events throughout the Florida Keys to make sure only real Key Limes were used.

Key Lime Kirby has promised to be on his best behavior during the Key Lime Festival, just so long as no one tries to make a Key Lime Pie with Persian Limes. He's decided it's time he has his own line of merchandise too, which festival organizers are considering.

If you see Kirby out and about, be sure to say hi and snap a photo to show your friends how weird you are. Just don't mention the other kinds of limes.